The National Assembly(Asamblea Nacional) has 92 members: 90 deputies elected for a five-year term by proportional representation, the outgoing president, and the runner-up in the last presidential election. Should the president be reelected (not originally planned for in the Nicaraguan constitution), the outgoing vice president takes the seat reserved for him instead.

Nicaragua has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, and in past years, no other parties were able to achieve any electoral success.

The 1984 election took place on November 4. Of the 1,551,597 citizens registered in July, 1,170,142 voted (75.41%). The null votes were 6% of the total. The national averages of valid votes for president were:

The pro-Sandinista magazine, Envio claimed that this election was considered to have the "most freedom of choice" in the nation's history and was approved by international advocates of free elections.[1]

The 1984 parliamentary election was held together with the presidential election on November 4. The percentages for National Assembly representatives were very similar to those the parties had received for their presidential candidate. The electoral quotient needed to win one of the 90 National Assembly seats was obtained by dividing the number of valid votes in each region by the number of representatives that had been assigned to each region, proportional to its population.

Each party's "left over" votes—those insufficient to earn it a seat in a given region—were then added together and re-tallied nationally. The seats earned in this second count went to the next candidate on the party's slate in the regions where it had come closest to winning on the first round. In addition, any party getting at least 1% of the presidential vote (which all six losing parties did) was allowed a seat for its defeated presidential candidate. The final composition of the National Assembly was thus:

The 1990 municipal election was held together with the presidential and the parliamentary elections on February 25. Municipal Councils were elected in 131 municipalities nationwide. The final results for the elections were:

A great expectation in the 1996 municipal elections was the participation for the first (and last) time of what the Electoral Law terms "popular subscription associations". According to the Electoral Law, to be formed, an association needed, among other things, to present to the Supreme Electoral Council a "written request signed by a minimum of 5% of the citizens on the electoral rolls corresponding to the respective electoral area". A total of 53 associations participated in the municipal elections. One of them (the Civic Association of Potosí) won the mayor's post.

Despite winning only one municipality, an important number of association candidates finished in second or third place. In the nations capital, Managua, two independent candidates; Pedro Solórzano of the Viva Managua Movement association and Herty Lewites of the Sol (sun) association competed against the AL and FSLN official candidates. ALN's Roberto Cedeño got the 28% of the votes followed closely by Solórzano with 26%, Carlos Guadamúz from the FSLN with 25.7% and Herty Lewites who became Managua's mayor four years later came in fourth place with 12.3%.

The 1996 municipal election took place together with the Presidential election on October 20. Municipal Councils were elected in 145 municipalities nationwide. The final results for the elections were:

In the 2000 municipal election 1,532,816 voters elected Municipal Councils in 151 municipalities nationwide. It was the first time that the Presidential and Municipal elections were held separately. The final results for the elections were:

Note: Elections took place for the first time in the newly created municipality of San José de Bocay in the Jinotega department.

The 2004 municipal elections represented a huge Sandinista victory. The FSLN-Convergence won 14 of the 17 departmental capitals, 87 of the 152 municipalities —including 5 of the 6 that make up Managua’s greater metropolitan area— and 25 of Nicaragua’s 42 largest cities. In total it will govern a little over 4 million inhabitants, nearly 71% of the national population.

The Sandinista victory was attributed to the success of the FSLN-Convergence alliance. Of the 87 mayors elected on the FSLN ticket, 17 come from these allies: 5 are independents, 3 are from the Resistance, 3 belong to the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), 2 are Conservatives, 2 are Liberals, 1 is from the Christian Unity Movement (MUC) and 1 is a Social Christian. Of the deputy mayors who ran with an FSLN mayoral candidate, 28 are Liberals, 16 are independent, 14 are from the MUC, 9 are Conservatives, 9 are from the MRS, 3 are from the Resistance and 1 is a Social Christian. These allied candidates allowed the FSLN to win 12 municipal governments for the first time.

The first autonomous elections on the Caribbean Coast took place in 1990 together with the presidential, parliamentary and municipal election on February 25. The voters elected the 45 Regional Council members in what is officially called the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and the 45 in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS). The abstention was 21%, only 7% higher than the national average: